Biblio

Metaverse is becoming the new standard for social networks and 3D virtual worlds when Facebook officially rebranded to Metaverse in October 2021. Many relevant technologies are used in the metaverse to offer 3D immersive and customized experiences at the user’s fingertips. Despite the fact that the metaverse receives a lot of attention and advantages, one of the most pressing concerns for its users is the safety of their digital material and data. As a result of its decentralization, immutability, and transparency, blockchain is a possible alternative. Our goal is to conduct a comprehensive assessment of blockchain systems in the metaverse to properly appreciate its function in the metaverse. To begin with, the paper introduces blockchain and the metaverse and explains why it’s necessary for the metaverse to adopt blockchain technology. Aside from these technological considerations, this article focuses on how blockchain-based approaches for the metaverse may be used from a privacy and security standpoint. There are several technological challenegs that need to be addressed for making the metaverse a reality. The influence of blockchain on important key technologies with in metaverse, such as Artifical Intelligence, big data and the Internet-of-Things (IoT) is also examined. Several prominent initiatives are also shown to demonstrate the importance of blockchain technology in the development of metaverse apps and services. There are many possible possibilities for future development and research in the application of blockchain technology in the metaverse.

With the increasing number of distributed energy sources and the growing demand for free exchange of energy, Energy internet (EI) is confronted with great challenges of persistent connection, stable transmission, real-time interaction, and security. The new definition of metaverse in the EI field is proposed as a potential solution for these challenges by establishing a massive and comprehensive fusion 3D network, which can be considered as the advanced stage of EI. The main characteristics of the metaverse such as reality to virtualization, interaction, persistence, and immersion are introduced. Specifically, we present the key enabling technologies of the metaverse including virtual reality, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and digital twin. Meanwhile, the potential applications are presented from the perspectives of immersive user experience, virtual power station, management, energy trading, new business, device maintenance. Finally, some challenges of metaverse in EI are concluded.

Nowadays, 5G has been widely used in various fields. People are starting to turn their attention to 6G. Therefore, at the beginning, this paper describes in detail the principle and performance of 6G, and introduces the key technologies of 6G, Cavity technology and THz technology. Based on the high-performance indicators of 6G, we then study the possible application changes brought by 6G, for example, 6G technology will make remote surgery and remote control possible. 6G technology will make remote surgery and remote control possible. 6G will speed up the interconnection of everything, allowing closer and faster connection between cars. Next, virtual reality is discussed. 6G technology will enable better development of virtual reality technology and enhance people's immersive experience. Finally, we present the issues that need to be addressed with 6G technology, such as cybersecurity issues and energy requirements. As well as the higher challenges facing 6G technology, such as connectivity and communication on a larger social plane.

Metaverse opens up a new social networking paradigm where people can experience a real interactive feeling without physical space constraints. Social interactions are gradually evolving from text combined with pictures and videos to 3-dimensional virtual reality, making the social experience increasingly physical, implying that more metaverse applications with immersive experiences will be developed in the future. However, the increasing data dimensionality and volume for new metaverse applications present a significant challenge in data acquisition, security, and sharing. Furthermore, metaverse applications require high capacity and ultrareliability for the wireless system to guarantee the quality of user experience, which cannot be addressed in the current fifth-generation system. Therefore, reaching the metaverse is dependent on the revolution in the sixth-generation (6G) wireless communication, which is expected to provide low-latency, high-throughput, and secure services. This article provides a comprehensive view of metaverse applications and investigates the fundamental technologies for the 6G toward metaverse.

On the one hand, laparoscopic surgery as medical state-of-the-art method is minimal invasive, and thus less stressful for patients. On the other hand, laparoscopy implies higher demands on physicians, such as mental load or preparation time, hence appropriate technical support is essential for quality and suc-cess. Medical Digital Twins provide an integrated and virtual representation of patients' and organs' data, and thus a generic concept to make complex information accessible by surgeons. In this way, minimal invasive surgery could be improved significantly, but requires also a much more complex software system to achieve the various resulting requirements. The biggest challenges for these systems are the safe and precise mapping of the digital twin to reality, i.e. dealing with deformations, movement and distortions, as well as balance out the competing requirement for intuitive and immersive user access and security. The case study ARAILIS is presented as a proof in concept for such a system and provides a starting point for further research. Based on the insights delivered by this prototype, a vision for future Medical Digital Twins in surgery is derived and discussed.

In recent years, technological advancements in the AI and VR fields have increasingly often been paired with considerations on ethics and safety aimed at mitigating unintentional design failures. However, cybersecurity-oriented AI and VR safety research has emphasized the need to additionally appraise instantiations of intentional malice exhibited by unethical actors at pre- and post-deployment stages. On top of that, in view of ongoing malicious deepfake developments that can represent a threat to the epistemic security of a society, security-aware AI and VR design strategies require an epistemically-sensitive stance. In this vein, this paper provides a theoretical basis for two novel AIVR safety research directions: 1) VR as immersive testbed for a VR-deepfake-aided epistemic security training and 2) AI as catalyst within a deepfake-aided so-called cyborgnetic creativity augmentation facilitating an epistemically-sensitive threat modelling. For illustration, we focus our use case on deepfake text – an underestimated deepfake modality. In the main, the two proposed transdisciplinary lines of research exemplify how AIVR safety to defend against unethical actors could naturally converge toward AIVR ethics whilst counteracting epistemic security threats.

Virtual worlds was becoming increasingly popular in a variety of fields, including education, business, space exploration, and video games. Establishing the security of virtual worlds was becoming more critical as they become more widely used. Virtual users were identified using a behavioral biometric system. Improve the system's ability to identify objects by fusing scores from multiple sources. Identification was based on a review of user interactions in virtual environments and a comparison with previous recordings in the database. For behavioral biometric systems like the one described, it appears that score-level biometric fusion was a promising tool for improving system performance. As virtual worlds become more immersive, more people will want to participate in them, and more people will want to be able to interact with each other. Each region of the Meta-verse was given a glimpse of the current state of affairs and the trends to come. As hardware performance and institutional and public interest continue to improve, the Meta-verse's development is hampered by limitations like computational method limits and a lack of realized collaboration between virtual world stakeholders and developers alike. A major goal of the proposed research was to verify the accuracy of the biometric system to enhance the security in virtual world. In this study, the precision of the proposed work was compared to that of previous work.

This Innovative Practice Work-in-Progress paper presents a virtual, proactive, and collaborative learning paradigm that can engage learners with different backgrounds and enable effective retention and transfer of the multidisciplinary AI-cybersecurity knowledge. While progress has been made to better understand the trustworthiness and security of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, little has been done to translate this knowledge to education and training. There is a critical need to foster a qualified cybersecurity workforce that understands the usefulness, limitations, and best practices of AI technologies in the cybersecurity domain. To address this import issue, in our proposed learning paradigm, we leverage multidisciplinary expertise in cybersecurity, AI, and statistics to systematically investigate two cohesive research and education goals. First, we develop an immersive learning environment that motivates the students to explore AI/machine learning (ML) development in the context of real-world cybersecurity scenarios by constructing learning models with tangible objects. Second, we design a proactive education paradigm with the use of hackathon activities based on game-based learning, lifelong learning, and social constructivism. The proposed paradigm will benefit a wide range of learners, especially underrepresented students. It will also help the general public understand the security implications of AI. In this paper, we describe our proposed learning paradigm and present our current progress of this ongoing research work. In the current stage, we focus on the first research and education goal and have been leveraging cost-effective Minecraft platform to develop an immersive learning environment where the learners are able to investigate the insights of the emerging AI/ML concepts by constructing related learning modules via interacting with tangible AI/ML building blocks.

With novel 3D imaging technology based on computed tomography (CT) set to replace the current 2D X-ray systems, airports face the challenge of adequately preparing airport security officers (screeners) through knowledge building. Virtual reality (VR) bears the potential to greatly facilitate this process by allowing learners to experience and engage in immersive virtual scenarios as if they were real. However, while general aspects of immersion have been explored frequently, less is known about the benefits of immersive technology for instructional purposes in practical settings such as airport security.In the present study, we evaluated how different display technologies (2D vs VR) and segmentation (system-paced vs learner-paced) affected screeners' objective and subjective knowledge gain, cognitive load, as well as aspects of motivation and technology acceptance. By employing a 2 x 2 between-subjects design, four experimental groups experienced uniform learning material featuring information about 3D CT technology and its application in airport security: 2D system-paced, 2D learner-paced, VR system-paced, and VR learner-paced. The instructional material was presented as an 11 min multimedia lesson featuring words (i.e., narration, onscreen text) and pictures in dynamic form (i.e., video, animation). Participants of the learner-paced groups were prompted to initialize the next section of the multimedia lesson by pressing a virtual button after short segments of information. Additionally, a control group experiencing no instructional content was included to evaluate the effectiveness of the instructional material. The data was collected at an international airport with screeners having no prior 3D CT experience (n=162).The results show main effects on segmentation for objective learning outcomes (favoring system-paced), germane cognitive load on display technology (supporting 2D). These results contradict the expected benefits of VR and segmentation, respectively. Overall, the present study offers valuable insight on how to implement instructional material for a practical setting.

This paper is a conceptual paper that explores how the sensemaking process by intelligence analysts completed within a cognitive immersive environment might be impacted by the inclusion of a progressive dialog system. The tools enabled in the sensemaking room (a specific instance within the cognitive immersive environment) were informed by tools from the intelligence analysis domain. We explore how a progressive dialog system would impact the use of tools such as the collaborative brainstorming exercise [1]. These structured analytic techniques are well established in intelligence analysis training literature, and act as ways to access the intended users' cognitive schema as they use the cognitive immersive room and move through the sensemaking process. A prior user study determined that the sensemaking room encouraged users to be more concise and representative with information while using the digital brainstorming tool. We anticipate that addition of the progressive dialog function will enable a more cohesive link between information foraging and sensemaking behaviors for analysts.

To meet the application need of dynamic visualization VR display of 3D time-varying field, this paper designed an immersive visualization VR system of 3D time-varying field based on the Unity 3D framework. To reduce visual confusion caused by 3D time-varying field flow line drawing and improve the quality and efficiency of visualization rendering drawing, deep learning was used to extract features from the mesoscale vortex of the 3D time-varying field. Moreover, the 3D flow line dynamic visualization drawing was implemented through the Unity Visual Effect Graph particle system.

Construction of immersive architectural wisdom guiding environment based on virtual reality is studied in this paper. Emerging development of the computer smart systems have provided the engineers a novel solution for the platform construction. Network virtualization is currently the most unclear and controversial concept in the industry regarding the definition of virtualization subdivisions. To improve the current study, we use the VR system to implement the platform. The wisdom guiding environment is built through the virtual data modelling and the interactive connections. The platform is implemented through the software. The test on the data analysis accuracy and the interface optimization is conducted.

Recent advancements of spatial audio technologies to enhance human’s emotional and immersive experiences are gathering attention. Many studies are clarifying the neural mechanisms of acoustic spatial perception; however, they are limited to the evaluation of mechanisms using basic sound stimuli. Therefore, it remains challenging to evaluate the experience of actual music contents and to verify the effects of higher-order neurophysiological responses including a sense of immersive and realistic experience. To investigate the effects of spatial audio experience, we verified the psychophysiological responses of immersive spatial audio experience using sound field synthesis (SFS) technology. Specifically, we evaluated alpha power as the central nervous system activity, heart rate/heart rate variability and skin conductance as the autonomic nervous system activity during an acoustic experience of an actual music content by comparing stereo and SFS conditions. As a result, statistically significant differences (p \textbackslashtextless 0.05) were detected in the changes in alpha wave power, high frequency wave power of heart rate variability (HF), and skin conductance level (SCL) among the conditions. The results of the SFS condition showed enhanced the changes in alpha power in the frontal and parietal regions, suggesting enhancement of emotional experience. The results of the SFS condition also suggested that close objects are grouped and perceived on the basis of the spatial proximity of sounds in the presence of multiple sound sources. It is demonstrating that the potential use of SFS technology can enhance emotional and immersive experiences by spatial acoustic expression.

The project uses 3D immersive technology to innovatively apply virtual reality technology to the monitoring field, and proposes the concept and technical route of remote 3D immersive intelligent control. A design scheme of a three-dimensional immersive remote somatosensory intelligent controller is proposed, which is applied to the remote three-dimensional immersive control of a crawler mobile robot, and the test and analysis of the principle prototype are completed.

This work presents a system which allows image data and extracted features from a real-world location to be captured and modelled in a Virtual Reality (VR) environment combined with Augmented Situated Visualizations (ASV) overlaid and registered in a virtual environment. Combining these technologies with techniques from Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (AI)(such as image analysis and 3D reconstruction) allows the creation of a setting where remote locations can be modelled and interacted with from anywhere in the world. This Enhanced Photorealistic Immersive (EPI) system is highly adaptable to a wide range of use cases and users as it can be utilized to model and interact with any environment which can be captured as image data (such as training for operation in hazardous environments, accessibility solutions for exploration of historical/tourism locations and collaborative learning environments). A use case example focused on a structural examination of railway tunnels along with a pilot study is presented, which can demonstrate the usefulness of the EPI system.

At present, the limitation of intangible cultural experience lies in the lack of long-term immersive cultural experience for users. In order to solve this problem, this study divides the process from the perspective of Freudian psychology and combines the theoretical research on intangible cultural heritage and flow experience to get the preliminary research direction. Then, based on the existing interactive experience cases of intangible cultural heritage, a set of method model of immersive interactive experience of intangible cultural heritage based on flow theory is summarized through user interviews in this research. Finally, through data verification, the model is proved to be correct. In addition, this study offers some important insights into differences between primary users and experienced users, and proposed specific guiding suggestions for immersive interactive experience design of intangible cultural heritage based on flow theory in the future.

With the advancement of portable head-mounted displays, interest in educational application of immersive spherical video-based virtual reality (SVVR) has been emerging. However, it remains unclear regarding the effects of immersive SVVR on cognitive and affective outcomes. In this study, we retrieved 58 learning outcomes from 16 studies. A meta-analysis was performed using the random effects model to calculate the effect size. Several important moderators were also examined such as control group treatment, learning outcome type, interaction functionality, content instruction, learning domain, and learner's stage. The results show that immersive SVVR is more effective than other instructional conditions with a medium effect size. The key findings of the moderator analysis are that immersive SVVR has a greater impact on affective outcomes, as well as under the conditions that learning system provides interaction functionality or integrates with content instruction before virtual exploratory learning.

Stress-related disorders are increasing because of work load, forces in teamwork, surroundings pressures and health related conditions. Thus, to avoid people living under heavy stress and develop more severe stress-related disorders, different internet and applications of stress management interventions are offered. Mobile applications with self-assessed health, burnout-scores and well-being are commonly used as outcome measures. Few studies have used sickleave to compare effects of stress interventions. A new approach is to use nature and garden in a multimodal stress management context. This study aimed to explore the effects of immersive and non-immersive games application by using nature theme virtual stress therapy in reducing stress level. Two weeks’ of experiments had involved 18 participants. Nine (9) of them were invited to join the first experiment which focused on immersive virtual reality (VR) experience. Their Blood Volume Pulse with Heart Rate (BVP+HR) and Skin Conductance (SC) were recorded using BioGraph Infiniti Biofeedback System that comes with three (3) sensors attached to the fingers. The second experiment were joined by another nine (9) participants. This experiment was testing on non-immersive desktop control experience. The same protocol measurements were taken which are BVP+HR and SC. Participants were given the experience to feel and get carried into the virtual nature as a therapy so that they will reduce stress. The result of this study points to whether immersive or non-immersive VR display using nature theme virtual therapy would reduce individuals stress level. After conducted series of experiments, results showed that both immersive and non-immersive VR display reduced stress level. However, participants were satisfied of using the immersive version as it provided a 360 degree of viewing, immersed experiences and feeling engaged. Thus, this showed and proved that applications developed with nature theme affect successfully reduce stress level no matter it is put in immersive or non-immersive display.

On the basis of analyzing the development and application of virtual reality (VR) technology at home and abroad, and combining with the specific situation of the exhibition hall, this paper establishes an immersive scene roaming system of the exhibition hall. The system is completed by virtual scene modeling technology and virtual roaming interactive technology. The former uses modeling software to establish the basic model in the virtual scene, while the latter uses VR software to enable users to control their own roles to run smoothly in the roaming scene. In interactive roaming, this paper optimizes the A* pathfinding algorithm, uses binary heap to process data, and on this basis, further optimizes the pathfinding algorithm, so that when the pathfinding target is an obstacle, the pathfinder can reach the nearest place to the obstacle. Texture mapping technology, LOD technology and other related technologies are adopted in the modeling, thus finally realizing the immersive scene roaming system of the exhibition hall.

Since a training system using VR can reproduce an actual training environment, training systems have been studied in commercial fields such as medical care and construction. This immersive experience in a virtual space can have a great effect on learning a second language. In this paper, we propose an immersive learning system that learns phrases used in the customer service industry in the customer service experience. We asked the subjects to experience the system, measured the effects of learning, and evaluated the system. Evaluating the learning effect of phrases used in customer service English on 8 students, all student achieved good learning results. Besides, to evaluate the usability of the system, the VR system was evaluated by performing SSQ to measure VR sickness shows this system doesn't cause virtual sickness, SUS to measure usability shows this system evaluation is higher than average system, and IPQ to measure presence in an immersive space shows this system gives average virtual reality experience.

The interdisciplinary field of immersive learning research is scattered. Combining efforts for better exploration of this field from the different disciplines requires researchers to communicate and coordinate effectively. We call upon the community of immersive learning researchers for planting the Knowledge Tree of Immersive Learning Research, a proposal for a systematization effort for this field, combining both scholarly and practical knowledge, cultivating a robust and ever-growing knowledge base and methodological toolbox for immersive learning. This endeavor aims at promoting evidence-informed practice and guiding future research in the field. This paper contributes with the rationale for three objectives: 1) Developing common scientific terminology amidst the community of researchers; 2) Cultivating a common understanding of methodology, and 3) Advancing common use of theoretical approaches, frameworks, and models.

ARtect is an Augmented Reality application developed with Unity 3D, which envisions an educational interactive and immersive tool for architects, designers, researchers, and artists. This digital instrument renders the competency to visualize custom-made 3D models and 2D graphics in interior and exterior environments. The user-friendly interface offers an accurate insight before the materialization of any architectural project, enabling evaluation of the design proposal. This practice could be integrated into learning architectural design process, saving resources of printed drawings, and 3D carton models during several stages of spatial conception.

Experimentation focused on assessing the value of complex visualisation approaches when compared with alternative methods for data analysis is challenging. The interaction between participant prior knowledge and experience, a diverse range of experimental or real-world data sets and a dynamic interaction with the display system presents challenges when seeking timely, affordable and statistically relevant experimentation results. This paper outlines a hybrid approach proposed for experimentation with complex interactive data analysis tools, specifically for computer network traffic analysis. The approach involves a structured survey completed after free engagement with the software platform by expert participants. The survey captures objective and subjective data points relating to the experience with the goal of making an assessment of software performance which is supported by statistically significant experimental results. This work is particularly applicable to field of network analysis for cyber security and also military cyber operations and intelligence data analysis.

Advancements in the AI field unfold tremendous opportunities for society. Simultaneously, it becomes increasingly important to address emerging ramifications. Thereby, the focus is often set on ethical and safe design forestalling unintentional failures. However, cybersecurity-oriented approaches to AI safety additionally consider instantiations of intentional malice – including unethical malevolent AI design. Recently, an analogous emphasis on malicious actors has been expressed regarding security and safety for virtual reality (VR). In this vein, while the intersection of AI and VR (AIVR) offers a wide array of beneficial cross-fertilization possibilities, it is responsible to anticipate future malicious AIVR design from the onset on given the potential socio-psycho-technological impacts. For a simplified illustration, this paper analyzes the conceivable use case of Generative AI (here deepfake techniques) utilized for disinformation in immersive journalism. In our view, defenses against such future AIVR safety risks related to falsehood in immersive settings should be transdisciplinarily conceived from an immersive co-creation stance. As a first step, we motivate a cybersecurity-oriented procedure to generate defenses via immersive design fictions. Overall, there may be no panacea but updatable transdisciplinary tools including AIVR itself could be used to incrementally defend against malicious actors in AIVR.

Web technology has evolved to offer 360-degree immersive browsing experiences. This new technology, called WebVR, enables virtual reality by rendering a three-dimensional world on an HTML canvas. Unfortunately, there exists no browser-supported way of sharing this canvas between different parties. As a result, third-party library providers with ill intent (e.g., stealing sensitive information from end-users) can easily distort the entire WebVR site. To mitigate the new threats posed in WebVR, we propose CanvasMirror, which allows publishers to specify the behaviors of third-party libraries and enforce this specification. We show that CanvasMirror effectively separates the third-party context from the host origin by leveraging the privilege separation technique and safely integrates VR contents on a shared canvas.